By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI: OPEC member Iran has raised its official April selling prices for most of its crude oil grades for Europe and Asia, except for the Mediterranean, where prices fell slightly, an industry source with knowledge of the matter said.
OPEC’s third largest oil producer had been expected to raise the April price for Asian buyers to the widest differential to a similar Saudi grade since 2011, in anticipation of higher demand for its oil since the lifting of international sanctions in January.
From February Iran has also started sales in Europe but volumes have been slow to pick up so far as many buyers have complained about legal obstacles.
Iran’s oil export chief Mohsen Ghamsari told Reuters last week he expected sales into Europe to rise from March onwards while adding that banking and shipping insurance difficulties have so far impeded exports to the continent.
The expectations that Iran will heavily discount its barrels have also not materialised so far, with refiners in Europe saying they prefer to buy cheaper Iraqi, Kurdish and Kuwaiti barrels.
Ghamsari said last week Iran would not offer further discounts but could consider a pricing improvement for its crude sales to Europe by selling some spot cargoes at the dated Brent benchmark, though it was sticking with Brent Weighted Average (BWAVE) for its term contracts.
Other than Europe, NIOC’s main targets for increased oil sales in Asia are China, India and South Korea, Ghamsari said.
The source said the OSPs for April have been set at the following levels:
NW EUROPE (BWAVE)
Grade March April
IRANIAN LIGHT -4.95 -4.65
IRANIAN HEAVY -6.30 -6.20
FOROZAN -6.10 -6.00
MEDITERRANEAN (BWAVE)
IRANIAN LIGHT -4.95 -5.00
IRANIAN HEAVY -6.40 -6.50
FOROZAN -6.25 -6.30
SOROUSH -3.85 -3.85
SIDI KERIR (BWAVE)
IRANIAN LIGHT -3.65 -3.50
IRANIAN HEAVY -5.00 -5.00
FOROZAN -4.85 -4.80
ASIA (OMAN/DUBAI)
IRANIAN LIGHT -0.80 -0.50
IRANIAN HEAVY -2.60 -2.60
FOROZAN -2.43 -2.43
SOROUSH IRAN H FE -5.70 -5.65
(Editing by Jason Neely, Greg Mahlich)
Reuters
